transformation
by parasitic
Summary: The Converts are a group of teens with special abilities. They are entrusted with the protection of Altron, but are they protecting it from one of their own? If that's not enough, what plot are the Coswell Converts brewing? Future pairings.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own any rights related officially to Gundam or X-Men or Static Shock (even though the association to this fic is fairly loose), and I do not make any money from this. The storyline and terms/usage specific to this fic are my property, however.

Notes: "Convert" is the equivalent of a "mutant" or "bang baby," as in X-Men and Static Shock, respectively, in that the genetic makeup has been somehow altered to create some type of power. I'm not sure if the character is born this way or gains the power later. I think it's different for each character, and noone really knows how it comes about. Later terms in later chapters, methinks.

1

"'Kay, Barton, I gotta signal," the small blonde confirmed.  
"Roger that, Quat; what direction's he headed?"  
The blonde, known as Cateyes, held a pair of fingers to his temple as he hung from the side rungs of the red-black-and-white truck. His sea-green eyes appeared unfocused as he stared dimly forward, his feet on the step, closer to the rear, but his voice and balance exposed something that was quite opposite of fatigue. "We gotta 70-mile-per-hour goin' northwest, he's headed for the Chinese laundry, by the take-out." The strong tenor voice rose above the sound of the city traffic, as well as any civilians who happened to be staring and calling out in awe or even cursing them from their own automobiles on the road.  
The other young man drove the truck, a shock of brown hair obstructing his hypnotically forest-green eyes. "Gotcha," he called, his voice slightly deeper and richer than the other boy's. "Makin' a turn, buddy, hang on tight!"  
'Cateyes' whooped and called joyfully as he swung around the turn, leaning away from the side of the truck. The storeowners of the local shops they passed as they neared Chinatown stopped and stared out their windows.

"Does this happen often?" questioned a woman of the Hispanic cashier in the small soupkitchen. He merely shrugged in response.

"He's headed for Chang!" Cateyes cried out to his taller partner.  
The brown-haired man cursed under his breath, pressing his foot hard on the gas. "Ya mean the Dragonflame kid?"  
"That's an affirmative."  
The other growled loudly enough for the young psychic to hear, tossing in another curse or two for good measure, even if in French.

The small truck screeched to a stop directly in front of the Chinese laundry location, where could be seen a pair of slender figures, separated by only a few yards and in fighting stance. A young man closer to the building, swathed in white, was shouting and gesturing at the shadowy figure across from him.  
Cateyes was off the side of the truck before it was even fully stopped, but his partner followed close behind. "Fusion!" he called to the other man. "Take Dragonboy for me?"  
"Got it."  
"DragonFLAME!" loudly corrected the Chinese man clothed with white traditional pants and coat. One could almost see his dark eyes begin to spark angrily.  
'Fusion' appeared to the side and behind him, seeming to have come from thin air. His hands clamped firmly around the man's wrists as he leaned his head forward over his shoulder with a slight smirk. The other man's eyes dilated with shock, Fusion's bit of brown hair falling limply forward to tickle his ear. "I'll remember that," said Fusion, his eyes twinkling with sharp dare.

Cateyes stood directly behind the shadowed being, his arms outstretched and his palms laid flat against the air. The dark figure turned to face him, dark blue eyes almost smirking. It was indeterminable as to whether the being was a man or a woman, its tall, slender figure draped with black capes and cloth, red-brown hair spilling over its shoulders, like blood in the gold and scarlet tones of the sunset. Its face was masked with black cloth and shadows, so its face could not be seen or read beyond the penetrating night-blue gaze. More of the dark fabric was tied in a bandana around the top of its head.  
"Who are you?" questioned Cateyes, his voice layering with a multitude of tones, intent to induce hypnosis.  
The creature let out a single loud chortle.

... And disappeared.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

2

"Wufei!" cried a young woman, also Chinese, as she dashed from the little building. She raced to his side, her hands tentatively going for his arm in attempts relax him.  
'Dragonflame' seemed to be biting back some form of anger or pain behind his pristinely white teeth, eyes smouldering. "Meiran, don't fuss."  
Fusion had stepped away when the shadowy form had disappeared, instead taking some form of solace near his fairer friend.  
"Didja get anything, Cat?" he questioned gently. Cateyes wrapped a pair of hands around Fusion's arm, his pupils again coming into view and sharpening into feline slits as he stared at nothing in particular.  
"I think he wanted something," confirmed Cateyes, his voice now taking on unearthly echos in higher pitch. "He... yes, the person was male... and human, but Convert, obviously. He's not so proud as Dragonflame, here... What he wanted... wasn't something tangible. That's questionable, however." At the last word, his voice and eyes became humanly again, appearing as an almost sea-impish creature. Revealing only the slightest shreds of uncertainty, he looked up at his taller comrade. The forest-like being of Fusion returned from Cateyes' shared visions to the reality of the small expanse of grass in front of the Chinese laundry.

"He demanded Altron," confirmed the young Asian man. "I told him no, he'd never find it."  
The girl, Meiran, took on a look of sadness, almost pity, marring her childishly beautiful face. "Oh, Wufei, you shouldn't have let him know we have it. Now he'll come back!"  
"What's this 'Altron'?" questioned Fusion, stepping forward as Cateyes' hands slipped off of his arm.  
Meiran let go of Dragonflame-- Wufei, a feeling of urgency surrounding her. "I'll go get Grandfather," she stated quickly, turning around to dash back into the laundry building.  
Wufei sighed, letting his head drop to his fingers, kneading the bridge of his nose in the appearance of distress. "Now she's going to bring Master Long into this..." he muttered quietly. He picked up his head, swiping his palm downward across his face to let them know his displeasure. His eyes were somewhat bored, the coals appearing to cool. "Very well," he began. "Altron is known as the Long clan's guardian spirit. She is believed to reside within our sculpture piece. She is depicted as a dragon bearing two heads, and is cast from iron. If appraised, she would promise a heavy sum."

"He wants a sculpture?" asked Fusion of himself uncertainly.  
"Or the power inside it," Cateyes quietly added.

An elder man stumbled with a worn precision from the doorway of the building, wielding before him the statuette in question. Its metallic surface glinted in the lowering sun.  
"Master Long!" started Wufei.  
Master Long pressed the statuette forward into Fusion's hands, wrapping the young man's fingers about it. "Take her," he said almost breathlessly, "take her with haste, and guard her well. She is no longer safe here!" He pulled up the expensive-feeling fabric from underneath it to wrap around the top of the sculpture and conceal it. "Hide her carefully! You must hurry!"  
"Master-!" started Wufei again, but Meiran had appeared to brace his shoulders back in some warning.  
"Don't worry," she told Cateyes firmly, "we'll see you again soon!"  
Cateyes nodded determinedly. His eyes again began to cloud partially. He took Master Long's hands in his own, emanating strength and some measure of gratitude. "Thank you, sir," he said, the deeper tones of his voice layering only slightly. "We are honored to be chosen for her care. We will guard her well."  
Master Long nodded, more tender gratitude shared from him. "Thank you. I am proud to have you here anytime."  
"Yes, sir," finished Cateyes with a gentle bow, retreating for the truck. Fusion gripped the creature in his hands more tightly at the exchange. "We will see you again."

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

3

"It could be the statuette."  
"It could be the spirit."  
"It could be the money..."  
"Or simply the wealth."

Trowa sighed at his materialism. His telepathic partner obviously had a better handle on this case...  
...For now.  
"You hold it," he said. "Tell me if there really IS a spirit in that thing." He took a quick sip from his beverage as he drove. He'd retrieved it from a small Chinese take-out restaurant they'd stopped by before they headed home.  
"All right," Quatre said congenially. He shifted the take-out boxes around in his lap and between his knees before reaching to Trowa's lap with both hands for the object. It was slowly placed in his lap as his pupils dilated and faded from sight, trapped in the misty green of his irises. "Ooh, this one's interesting," he said, voice again seeming to echo within the closed space in what must have been a hundred different tones. "Very proud."  
"Fitting," Trowa agreed.  
"And very old. Huh? What're you talking about? I'm not going to-- Ow!" Quatre squeaked, relinquishing the being from his hands. He blew on his palms, as if he had been burned.  
"What happened?" asked Trowa.  
Quatre groaned as he spoke, but it was a good-natured sound. "Oh, she's guarding something, or the like. Probably an ancient family secret. A prophecy or some such thing, I'm sure." He gently patted the creature, and traded it in his hands for a box and a pair of chopsticks, eagerly starting on the mound of Chinese pan-fried noodles-- the lo mein they enjoyed so much on occasion, because it was vegetarian. It was about time he quelled his roaring stomach, he thought. This psychic thing could really get a person hungry!  
"Well, you seem pretty calm about this," said Trowa.  
"She burned me," he said, almost matter-of-factly, as he slurped up a wad of noodles. "It's probably a prophecy about the N-th child bearing such-and-such powers and the ability over fire. That's Wufei. So we know already. Doesn't matter, for now. Like any of the clan can read it anyway. Wufei's the one with the powers, and he's not a psychic."  
"Good point."  
"Thank you."  
"You're welcome."  
"You really ARE getting a bad case this time, aren't you?" Quatre asked teasingly.  
Trowa let slip a small grin. He simply answered, "For now."

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

4

They returned within a few minutes to their dorm, though it took longer to get back than it had taken getting to the Chinese laundry, judging from the fact that they'd been driving about twenty miles over the speed limit in Chinatown. Again.  
Trowa took back the statuette while Quatre carried armfuls of Chinese take-out to their room in the building. Quatre energetically hopped from the truck, carefully balancing about half the containers to keep them from falling. A little telekinesis could come in handy, too!

"Hey, Heero!" Trowa called down the hall at the rogue figure with tousled, brown hair. He turned around to face his friend, exposing a set of moss-green hightlights in his hair and a pair of pale blue eyes.  
He grinned. "Hi, Tro. Is that Chinese I smell?"  
"You bet!" Quatre giggled, not dropping a box. "Care to join us? We got extra!"  
Heero started in the opposite direction that he had been going, stopping at Trowa and Quatre's dorm. "Don't need to tell me twice."

"I heard your beeper go off. What was the case this time around?" Heero questioned.  
Trowa was stuffing himself with rice and snow peas, so Quatre answered him around a mouthful of vegetable stir-fry. "Some shadow-guy wanted something that belonged to Chang and his family, down at the Chinese laundry?"  
"Oh, that's why you guys got take out! You snagged some food from the place next door!" Heero concluded. "Chang... You mean the Dragon kid?"

"DRAGONFLAME!" they heard from the hall. "...Wait..."  
"That was odd," Trowa said.  
Quatre put his food back down on the bed and stood. "I'll get it."

He swung the door inwards to the bewildered expression of Chang Wufei, otherwise known as Dragonflame.  
"But I didn't even knock yet," said Wufei.  
Quatre stared boredly at him, his pupils fading and voice layering again. "I'm psychic, remember?"  
Wufei started to appear a bit frightened. "Umm..."  
Quatre laughed good-naturedly, grinning at him. The next time he opened his eyes, they were normal, as was his voice. "I'm just kidding! C'mon in, Wufei." He held open the door to the small dormitory, and the delicate-looking Asian man snaked past him to stand in front of the queen-size bed.  
He directed a glance to each of them in turn, greeting them; "Fusion, Cateyes..." His smouldering glare practically flared up at the sight of Heero sitting there with a mouthful of seafood. "... Polarice." His voice hissed almost as threateningly as the fire in his eyes.  
"Hello, Dragonflame," answered Heero casually before he slurped up another mouthful of shrimp and noodles.

"You do know," Trowa interjected, "that if you're here, tracking down your dragon will be that much simpler?"  
Wufei looked blankly at the wall. His eyebrow twitched. "I'm outta here," he stated with finality, and turned away to the door.  
"Wait-wait-wait," said Quatre, getting up again to halt him for a bit, "please, won't you join us for a little while?"  
Wufei stopped and turned back to the large bed in the small room, the only place where they could all sit and eat.  
The scent of the food-- his cousin-in-law's cooking-- slowly tempted his nostrils.  
...  
"Maybe just a minute."

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

5

"Let's call him Shadow," Heero stated, pausing to wipe some sauce from his chin with a napkin.  
"Nightblood!" hissed Quatre threateningly, letting go of a teasing giggle.  
Trowa shook his head, swallowing a mouthful of food. "No, Heero's right! 'Shadow' fits rather well, I think."  
"Okay, I was just kidding," Quatre laughed. "You're right."

"Yo, buddies!" another voice called from the door. "I smell take-out!"  
Quatre stood up again, without any hard feelings about not being able to finish his food due to the fact that he'd gotten a head start while in the truck. "All right, Duo! Hang on!"  
He opened the door...

... But no one was there.  
Quatre felt a slight breeze under his arm, however, and he turned around, his eyes blurring over for the fifth time that night.  
The middle of the bed started to deepen as if under pressure, and then bounce back repeatedly, tossing the open boxes of food about. A jovial giggle was emanated from somewhere above the bed.  
"Hey! What the-!?" the bed's occupants screeched in surprise, gathering as much of the beloved take-out as possible to keep it from spilling all over the bed.  
"Duo, I know it's you!" Quatre warned.

In midair above the bed, a body appeared clothed in black and khaki, now exposing his dirty white socks to the world-- or at least to the room. He fell with a broad grin, a brown rope of silken hair trailing down behind him. Duo bent onto hands and knees on the bed, crawling for the food.  
"Duo!?" cried Trowa in shock, guarding his veggie stir-fry, though it seemed he had no need to, as the most recent addition to the room was headed with carnivorous gusto for the beef and broccoli. "When did you learn to do that?!"  
"Crawl? I think when I was-"  
"No! Disappear!"  
Duo sat back, happily stuffing the long-sought-after food into his mouth and starving stomach. "Oh. This morning. Cool, huh?"  
Heero squeaked. "This MORNING? And you're already this good at it?"  
"Well, that may not be when I learned HOW, but I think it was when I learned I COULD."  
"Do that again," Wufei said simply.  
Duo looked down at his container full of food and swallowed. "Um..." He then disappeared from sight.

"Wait-wait-wait," Quatre said again, a habit of his being exposed.  
"Hm?" Duo questioned, still hiding a mouthful of food, though the box appeared to float ominously.  
"Look at your hand," was the response.  
Duo looked at his hand holding the chopsticks, and the hand holding the box... or, at least, where they should have been. But even though he couldn't see his hands, he COULD see the outlines of his fingers, filled in by nothingness against the objects he held. "Empty..." he muttered.  
Quatre stared in interest and astonishment. "Can you make the box and the chopsticks disappear, too?"  
The others groaned loudly. "Ohh," said Trowa, "don't strengthen his appetite! He already eats enough!"  
"I don't eat THAT much!" an invisible Duo retorted.  
"Yeah," Heero said, "that's what you told us right before we were in charge of food for that party, and you ate all six large pepperoni and olive pizzas."  
"It's not MY fault it's my favorite!"  
"Technically, it is."  
"Not my fault you ORDERED it!"  
Wufei growled, "Your breath RANKED that night, too..."  
Duo moaned quietly to himself in anger, and the items in his fists also disappeared.  
"I can still see your shadow!" Quatre giggled, happily exploring his friend's newfound talent.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

6

Quatre had been the first to develop his talent, a third-degree telepath and a second-degree empath by the tests. He also had a low degree of telekinetic ability, mostly for keeping balance, but a year or two of gymnastics in his youth helped that, too. The use of his telepathic abilities were exposed by a blurring of his pupils into the gentle green of the irises and a hypnotic deeper layering of his voice, as if his echo could so change its pitch.

Trowa had a degree of telekinetic ability similar to Quatre's, though he possessed several more years of gymnastics under his metephorical belt. (This class was where Trowa and Quatre had originally met when they were young.) His strength, however, was in mutation, adaptation, and assimilation. He could change his form as he pleased to fit into any crowd, but he could also meld with nature around him. In this way, he could lie back into a thick tree trunk, or sink into the ground as if he had vanished. Afterwards, he would return from the region in his own human body, and it would be so quickly now as to give one the impression that he'd teleported, when really he shared residence within the life of that natural form. The use of this ability meant that whatever he'd shared a form with also shared his mass, and therefore the space he was in maintained its own mass as well as his and the original mass was increased. The general condition was that the natural form-- a tree, or the ground-- had to be at least the same size as his body. He also could not penetrate concrete or any barren dirt ground that would not support life.  
He was even a portal to Quatre for him to share and relieve himself of visions and thoughts he'd accessed during his telepathy. During that time, Quatre lived up to his nickname, pupils narrowing, catlike, and voice layering with a higher pitch, like a feline cry for attention.

Wufei had the ability to emit flames from his hands, but this power was challenging to control. He sometimes lost his temper and relinquished fire too soon, and other times he didn't aim his palms correctly and burned himself. His power was still new to him, however, having had it for about a year-and-a-half and used it rarely. He couldn't practice much... not to say that he enjoyed his power over fire. But he was known to the other Converts for it, and so was proud to bear his name and became upset if it was tarnished, or even missaid.

Heero's power was used even less frequently than Wufei's, as his efforts went out to the prevention of less-than-righteous behavior of rowdier Converts around town. Trowa and Quatre were his superior comrades, and they did most of the fighting, even if it was mostly just strategizing. Heero created and programmed the gadgets and locators they used. He was basically a technical genius, and that was unrelated to his Convert abilities.  
However, he did have the ability to freeze the liquid in anything he touched, or paralyze with his icy-blue gaze. His abilities also included closed ageing, to some extent. Therefore he could surround any item or surface up to the size of a small boulder within a closed barrier and speed time inside the barrier. If he surrounded and aged a rock, it could be covered with moss within seconds; a region of a blanket would, in minutes, be shadowed, dusty, and moth-eaten.

Duo... Well, Duo didn't seem to have known he had a power until that morning. He was always very fast and agile, but this was... different. He'd lay in bed for an hour longer than usual, his alarm going off the whole time until his roommate Hilde smacked it off for him when she returned from her morning shower. With the sun glaring though the window that Hilde insisted they'd had in their room, and her voice dripping her characteristic tomboyish viciousness, Duo just wished he'd disappear. So, he did. And tumbled out of the bed.  
There were, however, all those times that Duo had hid in a predetorial crouch to jump up and surprise someone, and not a single person knew he hid there.  
All the times he stood-by watching to make sure his practical jokes went through, and whatever friend was supposed to meet him reported him missing at the scene.  
Any time he was depressed and, for the rest of the day, simply.  
... Disappeared.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

7

"My shadow?" Duo questioned, turning about, though none could see the motion.  
"I bet..." Quatre started. He walked around for a moment and put a hand behind Duo. "Guys, can you see my hand?" The others all nodded. He put a hand on Duo's arm now, away from the others' sight. "How 'bout now?" He questioned eagerly. They nodded again "Trowa," he called upon his friend, "walk around him slowly, and look diagonally where my hand should be."  
Trowa slowly stalked around the two, examining the spot, until...

He couldn't see Quatre's hand anymore. "It's gone!" he gasped with a slight grin. He stood before the spot where Duo should have been.  
"I thought so!" Quatre declared, smiling widely. "You can basically see through him from straight across, but not anywhere else! It's whatever's parallel to the spot you look at. He's just like an inversed mirror all around!" he explained, proud of his deduction.  
Trowa nodded, smiling, then it suddenly became wider with mirth.  
"Hey!" he laughed. "Your shadow!"  
"Yeah, my shadow, I KNOW," Duo grumbled boredly, coming back into sight. "I get the picture, Tro. A little slow on the uptake today, buddy?"  
"No, Duo, we saw this guy today, and we nicknamed him Shadow. You're him, aren't you? You. Are. Shadow!"  
Duo was silent, staring at Trowa with the same expression on his face. Seconds later, he responded plainly:  
"Huh?"

Wufei stood up briskly. "He's right!" he declared. "You followed me here!" His voice grew louder, stronger as he spoke, seeming to tower over the small, dark form crouched on the bed.  
A string of names were hissed from between his teeth, eyes aflame.  
"You followed me to the dormitories, and you knew I was here!"  
With every word, Duo became more and more reclusive.  
His eyes took on an apprehensive glare as he shrunk into his seat, pawing backwards almost animalistically.  
On, and on went the rant, and further, and further Duo retreated.  
_No more...  
NO MORE!_

"WUFEI!" Duo finally screeched, his prescence becoming deeply shadowed at the instant of the scathing sound, like nails against a blackboard. It wasn't as though he had disappeared... It was as though his form had become black and foreboding, cloaked in the shades of dark charcoal. He crouched down upon himself, becoming as small a target as possible, his torso bent over thighs to guard his head with folded arms. His fingers clutched his elbows, joints whitening and short nails digging into the flesh of his arms. "I'm not..." he whispered shakily.  
Everyone had retreated and frozen at the beginning of the flame controller's tirade, but now were shocked almost beyond speech. Quatre slowly put one foot in front of the other, stepping towards his friend, who seemed almost possessed by some demonic creature's evil spirit at this moment... No, he was...  
... Afraid...

"Duo..." he questioned quietly, reaching out to lay a hand on his troubled friend's back in attempts to soothe him. But before his fingers could touch the cotton fabric that covered the apparently dark flesh, a white spark jumped up at him, looking like a star in the endless, dark ocean of night.  
At the same moment, Duo's head came up sharply, just enough to pin the wary blonde with his hypnotically blue eyes. "Quatre!" he bellowed, fear and rage together mingled into the sharp exclaimation. Those eyes looked as though one could drown in them if they looked too long, as if they would pull someone in and demand that that person do his bidding for eternity, control them as long as they wouldn't have to leave his gaze. But his face, shadowed in black as was the rest of his body, revealing only the whites around the deep pools of unearthly blue, crinkled, the eyes narrowing in bitter sadness as clear, glimmering water rolled from them, creating a vivid and holy picture of sorrow and pain. "Quatre..." Duo whimpered, sounding small, almost frail, "please tell him... I don't know what he's talking about." The speech was emphasised by a fearful twisting of his head, back and forth in negative, and a small, friendly grin, a sourly stubborn refusal of the pouring rain depicted by his helpless form.

Quatre drew in a breath, quickly taking his hand back and beginning to stumble backwards and away from the unearthly creature. His head turned with disbelief, eyes clouding, now with fear. He turned away, shutting his eyes tightly and clenching fists againt the strange control.

And down he fell.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

8

"Quatre!" Trowa called as he jumped down to his accomplice and close friend in fear. He quickly scooped up the smaller figure, who had collapsed breathlessly to the floor of the dormitory, holding him supportively to his chest.

Duo clambered down from the bed, as though he'd lost his balance as well as his black cover. "Oh, my God!" he gasped as he crawled towards Quatre with distinctively human clumsiness and the speed of primate adrenaline released by a genuine fear for one dear to him.  
"No!" Trowa shouted at him, holding back his bundle from harm. "Don't touch him!"  
Duo slumped back on his haunches. "Now what'd I do!"  
Wufei stood straight, stepping firmly against the floor to tower over Duo again. "You were going to make him do things, Maxwell!"  
"Do things! Like WHAT!"  
"Oh, my God," someone cried out again, now in exasperation. Heero crawled across the foot of the bed, about as quickly as Duo had without the extra adrenaline. Duo turned around to face up at him, just in time for Heero to place a pair of fingers before his face. In that instant, the braided Convert was encased in a bubble of a barely visible sheen, his position frozen in time. His face stared innocently, curiously up at nothing, a hand raised almost to paw the air below his stilled heart.

Heero leapt down with practice to his frozen friend, scooping him up as Trowa had done with Quatre, although with considerably less remorse. "Geez, Duo," he groaned, looking down at the limp form he held, the big, staring blue eyes. "I always said you'd get yourself into trouble one of these days. Something so big, you wouldn't be able to control it..."

Wufei huffed. "I'm outta here." He quickly turned to leave.  
"Wait!" Trowa said in a rush, before the Chinese man could depart. He managed a small and sad smile. "You're welcome back any time you want to visit Altron..."  
Wufei gave a brief nod, and rapidly left the dorm.

"He sort of... broke down," Heero explained as he laid Duo upon the small, plain metal bed. Everything about it was cheap. "He's probably not gonna be happy when he wakes up."  
Hilde nodded solemnly. "His eyes..." She stared down at them, turning away as soon as she'd looked. "They're creepy."  
"I know," the Japanese teen lamented. "Don't look at them too long, I guess." He bent down to gently close the staring orbs of blue, now broken by the strong, black pupil and humanly shadows. "Take good care of him." He gave Hilde a reassuring pat on the shoulder as he stood. "See you tomorrow."  
Hilde waved weakly. "Yeah... See ya."  
As he left, Hilde turned to lay a blanket over her long-time friend, hoping to make him comfortable. But as soon as the cloth hit his slumbering form, his eyes shot open again, Hilde taking in a sharp gasp of air. Duo sat up defensively.  
"H-Hilde...?" he asked, then finally let go of a breath. He gasped as though frightened. "Hilde, I'm glad you're not out to get me, or something."  
"What?" she questioned curiously. "What are you talking about? What happened?"  
Duo quickly stood up, bracing her shoulders in his hands as he stood before her. "Remember this morning? When I disappeared?" Hilde nodded, their eyes meeting squarely. "Well, I think there's something else I just did." He started to look frightened again, shaking her shoulders briefly. "Something bad." The terror in his eyes shot tremors down Hilde's spine. She wasn't used to Duo being sad or afraid of anything. Her water-blue eyes drifted away, remembering what Heero had said about Duo's eyes.

_Don't look at them too long, I guess._

"And, Hilde?" Duo questioned a bit nervously. She looked back up, straight at him again. "I don't remember."

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

9

Heero crossed the hall and waved to his friends' doorway. "I'm turning in," he said. "Enjoy your food."  
"Already?" Quatre chirped with surprise.  
"'Night, Heero," Trowa called, and Quatre echoed. Wufei waved from down the hall at the exiting doors, where he'd already headed after the 'incident'.

Heero opened his door to look upon the vast spreads of complex technology lining the walls - and floor - as though they were an everyday sight. Which they were. Shutting the door behind him, and, thus, the room away from light, he crossed the seemingly shrunken dorm to his desk. Swiftly he kicked the chair into a crooked position suitable for dropping oneself onto as teenagers do, doing so himself, and tapped the computer key that would light up the screen.

**Open C:\Program Files\fieldoperator.exe\  
TIMESET T-1hour SEARCH convert LOCATOR chinatown Searching.  
3 results found 3 known 0 unknown**

That couldn't be. Wufei had to be there, Quatre and Trowa were there together, and Duo wasn't in the database yet. According to this, however, no Convert but Wufei, Quatre, or Trowa was there.

**VIEW results1-3 .  
1 WUFEI CHANG 2 TROWA BARTON 3 QUATRE WINNER**

_Exactly as I thought._

**SEARCH lifeform LOCATOR x-trowa quatre y-2meters Searching.  
3 results found 3 known 0 unknown VIEW results1-3 .  
1 WUFEI CHANG 2 TROWA BARTON 3 QUATRE WINNER**

There was nothing else there?

**SEARCH lifeform LOCATOR x-trowa quatre y-2meters INCREASE SIZE RANGE 0.5cm-3m Searching.  
15 results found 15 known 0 unknown VIEW results1-15 .  
1 WUFEI CHANG 2 TROWA BARTON 3 QUATRE WINNER 4-9 INSECT LIFE 10-12 ARACHNID LIFE 13-15 SPARROW**

Heero's brows knitted tightly together. None of these results made any sense! But when dealing with Converts, one often had to broaden their plane of thought.

**SEARCH energy-negative LOCATOR x-trowa quatre y-2meters RANGE 1-n Searching.  
2 results found 1 known 1 unknown VIEW coordinates 1-2 .  
1 WUFEI CHANG point-lower frontal lobe 2 QUATRE WINNER -0.32m**

"Gotcha." Heero chuckled at the fact that his search had even targeted Wufei.

**VIEW graph results - full range Open C:\Program Files\citygraph.exe TIMESET T-1hour LOCATOR trowa DISPLAY energy-full range negative positive**

His eyes darted across the screen's display of a full spectrum of hues, clicking around the clearly colored area that was the yard that Trowa and Quatre, along now with Wufei, were standing in. Trowa's form was a map of hues that ranged from red to a pale greenish-blue, the warmest colors cropped around the center of his chest and a small part of his head. These warmest colors, red being the strongest, displayed the positive energy of love.  
Wufei's form was a similar display, but with a smaller amount of red and a darker blue and green clouding the cranial area. This was the other result in the search for negative energy, a small display of Wufei's characteristic anger. Heero again had to chuckle.  
Quatre's form could be seen standing a few yards away, a centre of red hues that dissipated out to a bright yellow-green even beyond his distinct and slightly smaller shape. At time like this one that was displayed, he could seem all business, but he was always all love.  
About a foot away from Quatre's outstretched hands, however, was the dark, ominous cloud that Heero was looking for. Most of it was pitch black, the strongest degree of negative energy that could be shown on Heero's graphs, radiating outwards to deep violets and blues.  
Heero pulled down a menu, and his selection projected a toggle into a window on the screen. Dragging the toggle arrow about, the colors moved and shrank in the display, sharpening the dark form into a humanoid shape. He clicked the first button on the smaller window - which, by the way, was in Japanese, as were the rest of Heero's programs - and the window closed itself, leaving the distorted colors and shapes on the screen. He reopened his text-only program and began typing again.

**DISPLAY live ...**

His original display program again filled the screen, now showing a distinct picture that looked like a photograph. The dark, humanoid shape was now filled in with color to look like... a dark, humanoid shape. He saw it now as Trowa and Quatre had seen it - in a full spectrum of living color. But there really wasn't much color to it. Cloaked in black and auburn hair spilling over its shoulders and back, it certainly looked very much like Duo.  
_Duo never puts his hair down._ Heero once again had to scoff.

**ANIMATE T-1hour - T-55minutes**

Heero watched the scene as though he had born witness to it at the time of its occurance, though he could not hear it. He didn't have to wait long before the strange form dropped away into nothing. The cursor sought the time-display arrow to drag it backwards and freeze the scene, before the shadow could disappear once again.

**DISPLAY energy ...**

The spectrum returned to the screen, and Heero clicked the arrow button that would play the animation. The cloud dropped away and disappeared, just as the visible being had before. He repeated his action on the time-display and clicked on the shadow, marking it.

**SEARCH duo LOCATOR campus Searching.  
0 results found**

_Ah-hah! I have you now, my evasive friend!_

**DISPLAY heat CODE genetic duo hilde LOCATOR dormdh ...**

Another setting with a similar spectrum appeared, displaying only one, feminine, figure. _Hilde._ He clicked PLAY, but Duo never showed up, as Heero thought he would.  
Heero's idea was that, as the unknown figure would disappear, Duo would reappear, in the dorm room. But that didn't happen in those five minutes.  
Heero's eyes scanned to the corner of the monitor's display. _10-o'-clock, already. Time for bed._

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

10

"Master Long, are you sure you want to do this?" Wufei questioned uncertainly. He stood, prepared for battle, one arm thrust forward and the other pulled back, the index and middle fingers propped up on both.  
Master Long nodded. "Of course, Wufei. You need all the practice you can get!" Long mirrored Wufei's stance.  
"As you wish, Master Long," the younger sighed, re-readying himself.  
Another man counted and dropped his hand at the same time Meiran swung the mallet and hit the gong.

For several minutes, the two men were locked in battle, each sharp move that Wufei made leaving a thin trail of fire in the air that dissipated quickly afterwards.  
Wufei's blow at Long's head was blocked. The elder smirked, hand beside his head holding back his opponent.  
The smouldering-eyed young man let his hands drop with a sigh of defeat.

That was when all came to the realization that their makeshift arena took residence in the kitchen at the rear of the take-out restaurant. The feelings and visions of valour disappeared at the moment that Wufei's hand brushed a stray cloth on the counter. The cloth immediately burst into flames.  
One of the other young cooks, who stood beside the one who'd initiated the fight, dashed off to fetch a fire extinguisher.

"I was afraid of that," Wufei muttered in disappointment with himself. Meiran smiled warmly and leaned on him, patting his arm in support.  
Long stepped up across from him. "Foolishness, Wufei," he said. "Throughout all your future training, always remember this: every great discovery or accomplishment begins with a mistake."  
"I know, Master Long," Wufei continued to sigh. He seated himself, brushing Meiran away. "It's just that," he lamented, "I seem to have been making a great deal of mistakes lately."  
Master Long chuckled quietly. "Don't worry yourself so!" he told his grandson-in-law-to-be. "Your gift is beyond the rest of your family's ability. A lack of control when using it in battle should be none of your concern for now. Worry about controlling that temper of yours! Meditate on it." Long gave his words with a wide grin up at his apprentice, crinkling his face even more.

Wufei stood solemnly and bowed. "Yes, Master Long."

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: I'm really sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I haven't been making progress on this fic as I'd like to. I have a lot of fics to work on now, it seems. I hope you enjoy, and I encourage you to leave reviews, as always, because I love this fic but I'll probably keep putting it off if no one reads it. Thanks to you if you are reading!

11

Heero's determined pace down the school-tiled hall would have seemed a theatrical and heroic scene, accentuated by clouds of steam, if it were a video projected on the auditorium wall. In reality, however, the bare, stark, and somewhat dilapidated hall was one that could generally be unavoided to the student population, and the steam that filled it was not from the uncovered steel pipes scattering the lower walls and lining the ceiling, or from some beast or even misbehaving students (playing with dry ice or some other such thing) loitering just beyond the cracked glass doors that led outside, but the result of the purpose of the dreaded confines toward the end of this hall.

Yes, Heero was headed for the showers.

Not to shower, though, mind you. No, being Japanese by heritage, Heero had become accustomed to washing in the evenings. In fact, the night of the 'incident', that friends had met to dine on fine Chinese take-out, Heero had been returning from his shower when Quatre and Trowa had caught his attention. No, this time he had a higher goal.

And it came, dripping, towards him, with naught but a towel round its waist and sopping locks about its shoulders.

_I guess Duo does let his hair down._ Heero caught a bare shoulder and spun his companion about to face him. "Duo," he demanded firmly, giving off a sense of urgency, "where were you last night, before you came to Trowa and Quatre's dorm? You weren't on Campus; I checked it on the Field Operator."

Duo, who had been looking leisurely and about half-asleep when he started down the hall, was now scared stiff. He appeared as though he might drop his towel at any moment, to the surprise - and appreciation - of a good quantity of the female student body. "I was in Chinatown -" he stammered.

Heero exclaimed, "I knew it!"

"... for my self-defense lessons. Didn't you remember?"

"Oh." Heero looked to the floor in thought, then back up. "I thought your self-defense lessons were in Little Tokyo? What happened?"

Duo seemed much better composed now, but Heero was confused. "They were going to be in Little Tokyo," Duo explained as he walked on, Heero catching up, "but that instructor got too many students, and one of his assistants had to quit, so I got sent to the smaller class in Chinatown instead." As they walked further into the school, Duo's female admirers silently got their scheduled daily eyeful. Duo, of course, continued to love the attention, so his non-body-conscious habit remained unchanged. "Of course," he added, "Hilde's self-defense class is still in Little Tokyo."

Heero thought again, taking note of the girls lining the hall. "But that class only runs from 7:15 to 8. What about after that?" he questioned. The run-in with 'Shadow' had been still going on at 8:00. Duo wasn't yet completely off the hook.

Duo grinned and also started pinpointing the staring girls. "Well," he drawled, "class usually ends a little early so we can shower and change, and we make it out by eight-o'-two..." He snickered to himself as a girl opened up her Dayrunner. "And then I come back to the Cafe on Campus for my power-smoothie!" He grinned widely and did a little skip, at which a girl squeaked with surprise. "I came back to my dorm, put away the book I was reading, and followed my nose. And you know the rest." _The trip from Chinatown to Campus takes about 5 minutes on a good day. That means he could have gotten to Campus by 8:07. He was out of my results by 2 minutes!_ Heero kicked at a fallen pencil on the floor. "Oh." There went his detective work. "And -"

Duo raised his right hand and held his towel up with his left, closing his eyes dramatically. "And I swear by my dirty socks and the fact that my hair is long and my eyes are blue that all I have said is totally true. I cannot tell a lie." They chuckled warmly at their own childhood truth pacts. Of course, there was always the lie pact as a humorous counter.

Heero patted Duo firmly on the back. "All right, man. I'll see you later. You'd better hurry up and get ready, or some of these girls are gonna make you late."

Duo laughed. "Are ya kidding me? They love me! Later!"

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

12

"You're doomed, 'Lightning,'" stated a ginger-haired teen, fixing the mask to his face and jacket.

The opposing young man swept up his pale blonde hair and swiftly bound it with practice, his mask already hiding his face. "I wouldn't be too sure, Spice Boy." His foil was handed to him, being the unbeaten superior, though the other was slightly older.

Treize picked up his own foil off the floor by the tip and then flipped it over, back into his hand at the hilt. Though he handled the thin blade with intense practice, he hadn't done so since years before in his life. Of course, this gave him little-to-no reputation in the fencing club and team of Coswell's Preparatory Institution, which was but a few minutes from Nelson Technichal Highschool.

The course of the short fight proved interesting, to say the least. One could see just why Milliardo's nickname was, of course, Lightning, by his quick and decisive movements. Treize's prowess with the blade, however, was a total surprise.

The duel was declared a draw. Milliardo demanded a rematch.

"Work on it, Millie," Treize almost mumbled, a sharp tongue to the words. "Don't you want to win?" His unexpected voice mulled around Milliardo's thoughts, forcing him to work at retaining his attention on the battle. Treize's foil came at his right, so he moved right to counter it. But his arm didn't move right; it moved left.

"Treize! What're you thinking?!" Milliardo confronted his opponent. Treize chuckled to himself darkly. Milliardo's attacks continued to be directed away from his target.

Milliardo pulled back. He shouted as if it would bring an end to the world, "You asked for it, you stinkin' Manipulator!" The foil was thrust forward, and the crackle of electricity rent the air.

"Medic!" a student called out. "Medic! We need a medic!" The footsteps of the student, and soon another, echoed throughout the building.

Milliardo was perfectly fine and still in stance, and Treize had only faltered slightly, but the sharp bolt of static that had shot down the length of Milliardo's foil was enough to cause alarm. In reality, it should have killed them both.

Down the street at Nelson Tech, Heero was already making note of the situation, which had set off his "watch alarm".

Treize peeled open the collar of his jacket and held it for Milliardo to see, showing the black, rubbered lining. "You're through, Lightning, like I said."

Milliardo threw down the foil. The fencing match was over again. Time for the shouting match. "Dammit, Treize! You-!"

"What?" Treize egged.

"You freaking mutant!"

Treize removed his mask, showing that he was laughing. "Ah, but you're a freak, too!"

Milliardo drew in a quick breath, and also removed his own mask. He took in the sight of all the spectators with shocked vision, heartbeat speeding with realization, and felt his face pale. His audience appeared the same way.

He'd revealed himself. He'd revealed his powers for all to see. All because of Treize. The Manipulator.

"You -!"

"Unless..." Treize took off the fencing gear, piece by piece, interjecting his actions with speech, "... We have a deal?" Each piece was folded neatly and piled up.

Milliardo was startled and skeptical. "A deal?"

"My idea," Treize indicated. "The one you snooped through my notebook for to find out about?"

"How did you know -"

Treize thrust out a hand. "Shh. All part of the plan."

Again, Milliardo started to accuse. "You made me -"

"Hey!" a younger, male student spoke up. "Wasn't anyone paying attention in Earth Sciences? It's nothing but static charges built up on the surface. So it likes fencing foils! So what! It's just like touching a doorknob!"

Milliardo flipped back around to his opponent, his bleach-pale hair fanning out as an echo of his movements, though it was still tied. "What if we don't have a deal?" he demanded. Treize looked smug.

A girl jumped forward in the crowd of watchers. "Are you kidding?" she screamed. "He's got some kind of Electro-Marvel Comics thing going on! What a freak!"

"This'll be all OVER the news!" another young man cried out.

"All RIGHT!" Milliardo's deep voice reverberated loudly off the walls as he crumpled to the floor in defeat. His ankles were crossed and knees brought up to his elbows, laced fingers blocking a mouth that was uncertain.

"We do?" Treize asked with an eagerness and glee that only villains can possess.

Milliardo took a deep breath. "We have a deal."

"No way, man," said one of the second man's friends. "This is bogus. The smart geek's right." A squeak could be heard from across the group, before some people began to whisper and murmur. "Nice hoax to freak us out, man," he told Milliardo from afar, "but I ain't buyin' it."

The mob of students started talking loudly amongst itself and began to disperse, the young men and women leaving their standing points for the rapidly crowding halls.

Treize had his gear gathered up under both arms and a strange, but friendly smile on his face. In a very low voice, he told Milliardo, "Let's go." He turned, leading his new comrade out to the locker room.

Milliardo stood, retreiving his foil and mask. A breif passing glance at the gymnasium entrance revealed one more student who had not left. But Milliardo did not take much note of the young man who did not wear the Coswell school uniform, but a green T-shirt and jeans, with striking blue eyes and shocks of green through his tousled, dark brown hair.

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

13

**Open C:\Program Files\fieldoperator.exe\  
TIMESET T-15 minutes SEARCH convert LOCATOR coswell  
Searching...  
3 results found 1 known 2 unknown  
Open WEBSEARCH.exe  
SEARCH coswell preparatory institute student database  
Searching...  
1 result found Coswell Preparatory Institute student database  
OPEN result 1  
PASSWORD:  
Open HACKER.exe  
SET encryption  
Decrypting...  
PASSWORD: ANGEL  
database search...  
CODE genetic results 1-2  
Searching...  
1 Merquise, Zechs  
2 Kushrenada, Treize  
DISPLAY results 1-2**

"That's them..."

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

14

"I don't know, but I've been told,  
"'The day is gettin' mighty old.'  
"We're scheduled against some powderpuffs.  
"Let's hope for their sake that we're not too tough!"

"GUNMEN!"

"Sound off!"

"One, two, three, four!"

"CHAKKA-CHAKKA-CHAKKA-CHAKKA!"

Bouts of laughter broke out in the tense-aired pre-game locker room as the sloppily composed chant was finished off with a set of machine gun noises, in classic Gunmen fashion.

"Hey, buddy!" Jeremy said nonchalantly, supporting it with a firm slap at Duo's back, causing the other to jump. "First game of the season! Ya nervous?"

Duo pulled his jersey on the rest of the way, shrugging it into a comfortable drape. "I wouldn't say 'nervous,'" he replied somewhat warily as he stretched his arms. "I'd say I'm... anticipating the challenge."

Anthony slammed his locker shut with a wicked grin. "I can't believe our first match is against Coswell Prep. What a bunch a' pansies!"

"Dude!" Evan said, giving Andy a punch in the shoulder. "Don't you remember last time? That Merquise guy whooped us four-to-twenty!"

Andy shouted, "You didn't hear? You gotta be kidding me!"

Mark stepped up into the scene. "They found him out! The guy's a freak! Most of 'em don't believe it, but he's got freaking lightning powers!"

Duo whispered to himself, "Lightning powers?"

"I'm not worried," said Andy. "This season, he's gettin' disqualified for those powers. You can count on it."

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

15

The whistle sounded as the signal of the start of the match. Milliardo smacked the basketball over Andy's head. One of the Coswell Generals caught the ball and dribbled it towards his team's basket on the left, until Duo intercepted it. He scored the first basket on the opposite side.

The Generals once again were the first to recieve the ball on their side. Milliardo recieved the ball from his teammate Mueller. Andy was assigned to guard Milliardo. Andy grabbed at the ball in Milliardo's hands, then screamed in pain. He let himself collapse, twitching, to the gymnasium floor.

"Aaargh!" Andy screamed, writhing. "You! He-! Aah!" Both the coach and referree came to him, crouching down and pausing the game. Andy still shouted, pointing at Milliardo. "That _freak!_ He shocked me!"

All others merely stood and watched. "That idiot," Duo hissed to himself as he heard Andy's screams and protests.

Heero checked his watch as he sat on the bleachers, a single body in the audience. "That's what I thought," he muttered to himself blandly. "Hm... In a minute..."

Jeremy called out, "Those basketballs are made of rubber. Rubber doesn't conduct electrical charges, you _dolt!_ I can't believe you'd try something this stupid!"

Andy was ignored and sent back to the bench. In the mean time, Duo seemed to have...

... Disappeared.

TBC


End file.
